The Fitchburg Cutoff (also called the Freight Cutoff) was a rail line running from Brighton Street (Hills Crossing station) in
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010.
H ...
, to
Somerville Junction
Magoun Square station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line (MBTA), Green Line located at Lowell Street south of Magoun Square in Somerville, Massachusetts. The accessible station has a sin ...
in
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...
. It was constructed in two segments in 1870 and 1881 to connect the
Lexington Branch
Lexington or The Lexington may refer to:
Places England
*Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington
Canada
*Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario
United States
*Lexington, Kentucky, the most populous city with this name
*Lexington, Massac ...
and
Massachusetts Central Railroad
The Massachusetts Central Railroad is a short line railroad in western Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1975 to provide railroad transportation services on portions of the Boston & Maine Wheelwright Branch in and around their ...
to the
Boston and Lowell Railroad
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine R ...
. Passenger service lasted until 1927. Freight service ended in 1979–80 to allow construction of the
Red Line Northwest Extension; the line was abandoned in three sections in 1979, 1983, and 2007.
All of the
right-of-way, except a short section near
Alewife station
Alewife station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line (part of the MBTA s ...
, has been reused for three connecting
rail trail
A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...
s: the Fitchburg Cutoff Path from Brighton Street to Alewife station, the Alewife Linear Park from Alewife to Massachusetts Avenue, and the
Somerville Community Path
The Somerville Community Path is a paved rail trail in Somerville, Massachusetts, running from the Alewife Linear Park at the Cambridge/Somerville border to East Cambridge via Davis Square. The first portion opened in 1985 along part of the form ...
east of Massachusetts Avenue. The paths are part of the
Mass Central Rail Trail.
Route
The line was long, running approximately east–west.
The west end connected to the
Central Massachusetts Branch at Hill Crossing station at Brighton Street in
Belmont, parallel to the
Fitchburg Division main line (now the MBTA
Fitchburg Line
The Fitchburg Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which runs from Boston's North Station to Wachusett station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was built across nort ...
). It crossed the
Lexington Branch
Lexington or The Lexington may refer to:
Places England
*Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington
Canada
*Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario
United States
*Lexington, Kentucky, the most populous city with this name
*Lexington, Massac ...
(after 1927) at grade in West Cambridge and crossed under
Alewife Brook Parkway
Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads ...
, with the pre-1927 connection to the Lexington Branch near Jackson Street. The line crossed Massachusetts Avenue and other streets at grade, then continued into Somerville, where it ran at grade through
Davis Square
Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is of ...
with crossings of Holland Street and College Avenue. It crossed additional streets at grade, then passed under Lowell Street and joined the Southern Division (now the
Lowell Line
The Lowell Line is a commuter rail service of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north–south between Boston, Massachusetts, Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts. It is long, with nine stations including the terminals at North Station and Lowel ...
) at
Somerville Junction
Magoun Square station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line (MBTA), Green Line located at Lowell Street south of Magoun Square in Somerville, Massachusetts. The accessible station has a sin ...
.
After 1887, passenger stations on the line were North Cambridge (also called North Cambridge Junction and North Avenue) at
Massachusetts Avenue,
West Somerville (Elm Street) at Davis Square, and Somerville Highlands at Highland Road.
History
Passenger service

The B&L acquired control of the
Lexington and Arlington Railroad (Lexington Branch) in 1869, and purchased it in 1870, to prevent it from building to Lowell and thus becoming a competitor to the B&L. In 1870, the B&L built a cutoff from to Somerville Junction to connect the newly acquired branch to its mainline.
(Early plans called for the cutoff to connect to the B&L further north at
Willow Bridge station.) Service began on December 1, 1870. In January 1876,
William Robinson installed one of the first test applications of his
track circuit
A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on a block of rail tracks to control railway signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters.
Principles and operation
The basic principle behind the t ...
signaling system on the line between Elm Street and North Avenue. On June 14, 1876,
Pedro II of Brazil
''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...
, who was touring the United States, travelled to Elm Street station to view the system.
The western section was built in 1881 by the
Massachusetts Central Railroad
The Massachusetts Central Railroad is a short line railroad in western Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1975 to provide railroad transportation services on portions of the Boston & Maine Wheelwright Branch in and around their ...
(MC) (which paralleled the Fitchburg Railroad west of Brighton Street) to connect to the B&L for access to Boston. It connected to the existing Lexington Branch cutoff near Jackson Street, west of North Cambridge station, and had no stations between Hills Crossing and North Cambridge.
Service began on October 1, 1881.
By 1883 the MC was succeeded by the
Central Massachusetts Railroad
The Central Massachusetts Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. The eastern Train station#Terminus, terminus of the line was at North Cambridge Junction where it split off from the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad, Middlesex Central B ...
and service resumed in 1885. The B&L, which controlled the Central Massachusetts, was acquired by the
Boston and Maine Railroad
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022).
At the e ...
(B&M) in 1887. The B&L became the Southern Division mainline, while the Central Massachusetts became a branchline.
The original Willow Avenue and Somerville Highlands stations were replaced by a new Somerville Highlands station at Highland Road around 1887. In 1900, the B&M acquired the Fitchburg Railroad as its Fitchburg Division.
The city of Somerville proposed to eliminate the five grade crossings on the cutoff within its borders, including the pair of College Avenue and Holland Street at Davis Square, in the early 1900s. Most grade crossings on the Fitchburg Division mainline were eliminated over the next decade, but those on the cutoff were not. On January 31, 1915, the West Somerville station building was moved west of Holland Street at the request of the mayor to improve conditions in
Davis Square
Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is of ...
.
In 1926–27, the B&M built two new sections of track in North Cambridge; these allowed the Lexington Branch and the Central Massachusetts Branch to use the Fitchburg mainline east of
Alewife Brook Parkway
Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads ...
. On April 24, 1927, passenger service from the two branches was rerouted over these new sections and the Fitchburg mainline; North Cambridge, West Somerville, and Somerville Highlands stations were closed. Although residents were opposed to the closures, the B&M wished to avoid the grade crossings on the line, which had seen 70 crashes in the previous six years. The old line from Brighton Street to Somerville Junction became the freight-only Freight Cutoff (Fitchburg Cutoff); it was rebuilt with heavier rails to handle heavy freights headed to and from the new Somerville freight yard.
In late 1927, an additional main track was built on the Southern Division from Somerville Junction to the yard to reduce the incidence of stopped freight trains blocking crossings on the cutoff.
Rapid transit conversion
In the 1920s, the cutoff was considered the most likely route for rapid transit service to Somerville and North Cambridge. (Extension of the Cambridge–Dorchester Line – now the
Red Line – north from
Harvard station was not considered likely.) The ''Report on Improved Transportation Facilities'', published by the Boston Division of Metropolitan Planning in 1926, proposed extension from to North Cambridge via the Southern Division and the 1870-built cutoff. Among the potential further extensions in the report was extension of the North Cambridge line to via the Lexington Branch.
In 1935, the city requested that the line be grade-separated as part of a
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
-funded grade crossing elimination program. A proposal that year by a citizen's group called for a rapid transit extension to North Cambridge. A new highway was to run from the
Northern Artery over the tracks at street level, then adjacent to the tracks on the lowered cutoff to connect to the existing
Mohawk Trail
The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range, in the area that is now northwestern ...
expressway at Alewife Brook Parkway. Neither project was built, and the grade crossings were not eliminated; crashes and stalled freight trains continued to be a problem. Even decades after regular passenger service ended on the line, it was occasionally used as a detour route when the Fitchburg Route mainline was blocked in Somerville.
Various proposals in the 1930s called for rapid transit use of the cutoff; some called for it to be connected to the
East Boston Tunnel
The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Har ...
(now the
Blue Line) rather than the
Tremont Street subway
The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third-oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and Line 1 ...
(now the
Green Line). The 1945 and 1947 reports by the state Coolidge Commission called for extensions from Lechmere to Woburn over the Southern Division, and Harvard to Arlington over the Lexington Branch; the cutoff was not proposed as a route.
The 1962 ''North Terminal Area Study'' called for the Main Line (now the
Orange Line) to be
relocated along the B&M Western Route. It was to have a branch via the Southern Division to Woburn or Arlington (the latter also using the cutoff). The 1966 ''Program for Mass Transportation'', and subsequent reports by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA), largely followed the routes laid out by the Coolidge Commission. Green Line service would be extended from Lechmere over the Southern Division, and Red Line service from Harvard (with various routings proposed to reach the Lexington Branch); the cutoff was not proposed for conversion.
The B&M replaced the Somerville yard with smaller yards elsewhere in the system in the 1970s, ending regular use of the cutoff by "as many as two-dozen mile-long freight trains daily". The route chosen for the
Red Line Northwest Extension in the mid-1970s included
a station at Davis Square, with the rapid transit tunnel running under a segment of the cutoff from Davis Square to east of
Alewife station
Alewife station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line (part of the MBTA s ...
.
In April 1980, the west half of the cutoff was abandoned to allow for construction of the extension.
The eastern portion was used to haul dirt removed from the tunnel for reuse around the region; it was abandoned in 1983 except for a short section serving an industrial customer at Somervile Junction.
That segment was abandoned in 2007.
Path conversion

As part of the Red Line extension, the Alewife Linear Park
rail trail
A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...
was constructed from Alewife to Davis, opening in 1985. Except for a short section near Alewife station, it follows the former railroad route. The
Somerville Community Path
The Somerville Community Path is a paved rail trail in Somerville, Massachusetts, running from the Alewife Linear Park at the Cambridge/Somerville border to East Cambridge via Davis Square. The first portion opened in 1985 along part of the form ...
opened from Davis Square east to Cedar Street in 1992; the segment of the Alewife Linear Park within Somerville was redesignated as part of the Community Path, leaving the western within Cambridge as the Alewife Linear Park.
The
Minuteman Bikeway opened in 1993, connecting to the existing trail at Alewife station. The Alewife Linear Park crossing of Massachusetts Avenue, which originally zig-zagged using existing crosswalks, was signalized as a direct crossing in 2011.
A extension of the Community Path to Lowell Street opened in 2015; it was further extended along the Lowell Line in 2023, known as the Somerville Community Path Extension, as part of the
Green Line Extension
The Green Line Extension (GLX) was a construction project to extend the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line (MBTA), Green Line light rail system northwest into Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville and Medford, Massac ...
project. , the city of Cambridge plans to reconstruct the Alewife Linear Park to widen the path, reduce conflicts between bicycles and pedestrians, and add additional plantings.
The segment west of Alewife station through the
Alewife Brook Reservation was used as an unpaved trail; a stone dust surface was added in the 1990s. Construction of the paved Fitchburg Cutoff Path took place from September 2010 to August 2013, with a new bridge built over a stormwater management wetland at Alewife. The planned
Belmont Community Path will extend west through Belmont parallel to the Fitchburg Line, connecting with existing sections of the
Mass Central Rail Trail.
In 1985–86, an access road was constructed from the Alewife station garage to the
Route 2/
Alewife Brook Parkway
Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads ...
intersection, following the cutoff alignment for about . The Alewife Linear Park runs as a sidewalk along the access road for most of that length.
[ ]
File:Fitchburg Cutoff Path (1), November 2020.jpg, alt=A rail trail in a suburban area, Fitchburg Cutoff Path
File:Alewife Station Access Road under Alewife Brook Parkway, November 2020.JPG, alt=A sidewalk and road next to a parking garage, The Route 2 access road, with a sidewalk serving as part of the Alewife Linear Park
File:Alewife Linear Park - Cambridge, Massachusetts - DSC09184.jpg, alt=A rail trail in an burban area, A typical section of the Alewife Linear Park
File:Somerville Community Path. 05.jpg, alt=A rail trail in a suburban area, The 1992-built portion of the Somerville Community Path
File:Somerville Community Path near Lowell Street, July 2019.JPG, alt=A rail trail in a suburban area, The 2015-built portion of the Somerville Community Path
References
External links
{{commons category inline
Transportation in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Railroad cutoffs
Boston and Maine Railroad
Transportation in Somerville, Massachusetts
Parks in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Linear parks
Rail trails in Massachusetts